Former DU hockey coach George Gwozdecky holds back his emotions as he addresses the media at a news conference April 2, 2013 at Magness Arena. Gwozdecky was on hand to discuss the school firing him on Monday. This ends his Pioneers coaching tenure at 19 seasons. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Our Sunday NHL column is on George Gwozdecky, the No. 2 assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The former Denver Pioneers head coach, 61, discusses the working relationship with Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, 47, defensive bench-boss Rick Bowness, 60, and Steve Thomas, 51 — who played in 1,235 NHL regular-season games.

The staff reports to general manager Steve Yzerman and assistant GM Pat Verbeek, who combined for more than 1,200 NHL regular-season goals and four Stanley Cups. Similar to the Avalanche’s front office with Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy (six combined Cups), Tampa Bay’s suit-and-ties know how to get it done.

New Avalanche assistant general manager Chris MacFarland told The Denver Post he would work alongside Craig Billington and Greg Sherman under GM Joe Sakic and head coach/hockey operations director Patrick Roy. It appears MacFarland will be Sakic’s day-to-day understudy, but the dynamics of it all is still in the works.

“My role from what I have been told is heavy on the pro side and assisting Joe Sakic and complimenting the pro staff,” MacFarland said Monday night. “Craig (Billington) is a good friend of mine and does a great job, and runs the AHL side. I’m looking forward to getting in there and doing whatever they ask me to do.”

Chris MacFarland, assistant general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, is joining the Avalanche in the same capacity. I got word of the move from a source in Columbus, and it was confirmed by Avs vice president Jean Martineau. MacFarland is from Bronx, N.Y., and joined the Blue Jackets in 1999. He was named assistant GM in 2008, and last season worked with co-assistant GM Bill Zito under GM Jarmo Kekalainen.

MacFarland is reportedly friends with Adam Foote, the a former Blue Jackets defenseman who is Colorado’s volunteer defensive specialist.

The Avs already have two assistant GMs in Craig Billington and Greg Sherman, who work under GM Joe Sakic and coach/VP hockey operations Patrick Roy, and Martineau said Billington and Sherman will remain with the organization.

“No subsequent moves,” Martineau said in a text. “Just an addition to the hockey operations staff.”

I formal announcement is forthcoming.

The Blue Jackets just put out the following release, without saying where MacFarland is going:

Chris MacFarland, a long-time member of the Columbus Blue Jackets hockey operations staff, is leaving the organization after 16 years of service, Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced today.

“Chris MacFarland has been an important member of this organization for many years and his contributions to our hockey club have been significant,” said Kekalainen. “He has been presented with an exciting opportunity outside our organization and while we are sorry to see him leave, we thank Chris for his years of service, hard work and commitment to the Blue Jackets and wish him and his family all the best in the future.”

MacFarland originally joined the Blue Jackets in 1999 and served as the club’s manager of hockey operations from 2001-07. He was promoted to assistant to the general manager in July 2007 and a year later was named the club’s assistant general manager.

With the Blue Jackets, MacFarland assisted the club in all hockey-related matters including scouting, player contract research and negotiations, salary cap management and arbitration, collective bargaining agreement administration, budgeting and team scheduling issues. He also oversaw hockey operations efforts of the club’s minor league affiliates.

Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic met with three members of the media before Thursday night’s game with Winnipeg to assess the Avalanche season and future, and I used much of the material in the game story here.

Here are additional Sakic comments, and there will be more in a Sunday season wrapup analysis: Read more…

As expected in recent days — despite all the weeks of reasoned speculation and rumors circulating predicting the contrary — Ryan O’Reilly remained with the Avalanche when the trading deadline passed Monday.

“It’s nice not to be somewhere else and to be able to focus on playing hockey and trying to get in the playoffs here,” O’Reilly said after practice Tuesday. “It’s nice to put that behind me.”

Avalanche GM Joe Sakic, coach Patrick Roy and his staff played shinny Friday at the American Airlines Center after the morning skates. Forward Paul Carey, who will be scratched against the Stars, and backup goalie Reto Berra also participated:

DALLAS — Feels like New York here. Cold, snow and traffic. Yes, it’s a snow day in Big D. Accidents all over the streets, schools are letting out early, Stars players told to avoid traveling to their suburban homes between the morning skate and the game — all because an inch or two of snow. But the game will go on, and it’s a big one between teams with 63 points — eight behind Minnesota for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. The morning skate report is here.

Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog got in his third NHL fight of the season and fifth of his career Tuesday at Nashville. In a big-blow scrap that began as a response to Landeskog’s crushing forecheck hit on Roman Josi, Landeskog fared well against the bigger and more seasoned Preds D Shea Weber:

Freelance game story from Colorado’s 5-2 loss at Nashville is here. The Avalanche is off Wednesday and will practice Thursday at a suburban Dallas rink. I fly to Dallas in the morning and will report from practice, Friday’s morning skate at the American Airlines Center and the ensuing game against the Stars.

As it stands, forward Daniel Briere will be the only extra Av against Dallas. On Wednesday, the team reassigned defenseman Stefan Elliott to Lake Erie of the American League. Elliott struggled mightily against the Preds and his demotion likely had something to do with his waiver status. So right now, expect D Zach Redmond to return to the lineup Friday.

The Avs host Minnesota on Saturday in their last game before Monday’s NHL trade deadline. Colleague Terry Frei has the game against the Wild, as he and I swap teams over the weekend. Terry has the Denver Pioneers’ big NCHC tilt against Miami on Friday in Denver, and I’ll do the series finale Saturday. Avs GM Joe Sakic is expected to meet with local media Saturday, likely before the game against Minnesota, and discuss trade-deadline issues.

At a minimum, you can bet the Avs will look at moving pending unrestricted free agent D Jan Hejda to a playoff team as a rental. Hejda is a good shot-blocker who could provide depth for a playoff team, and in return the Avs could get a prospect and/or draft pick. I can’t see Colorado re-signing Hejda, 36, as it re-tools its D for next season. His departure opens $3.25 million in cap room. Briere could also be moved for many of the same reasons. He’s a pending UFA at age 37, and his cap hit is $4 million. But Briere — a proven clutch playoff scorer — can’t get in a lineup for a team that’s unofficially in playoff-mode right now, so the takers figure to be few.

Ryan O’Reilly? He’s Colorado’s first-line center right now, playing between Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. O’Reilly is unquestionably sought by playoff-bound teams, but moving him to one of those by Monday will not get you a first-pairing D. Unless the Avs can get a top prospect and first-round draft pick for O’Reilly, I’m betting he finishes the season in Colorado.

Whether it’s this spring or this summer, the Avs will re-build their D. But it could be subtle changes — one or two additions — given the expected training camp excitement over young draftees Chris Bigras, Mason Geertsen, Kyle Wood, Will Butcher and others. Yes, those four are 20-under and might be years away from being an NHL regular. But they certainly add intrigue to how the Avs go about things for next season and beyond.

— OK, so neither the zoom-in on my iPhone nor the operator was capable of producing a sharp picture here.

But with the NHL trading deadline approaching, when two NHL general managers spend a morning skate sitting together at the top of the Pepsi Center’s lower bowl, as Joe Sakic and the Coyotes’ Don Malone did Monday — it’s going to draw some attention.

And perhaps raise some eyebrows.

Coyotes’ defenseman Keith Yandle, 28, especially a force on the power play, has a year remaining on his five-year, $26.5-million contract, and if Arizona’s housecleaning and rebuilding goes into high gear, he could go — despite the fact this is not some 34-year-old D-man heading into his final seasons. Mike Chambers summarizes Yandle as a player in our advance box this morning: Read more…

Avalanche coach Patrick Roy suspects GM Joe Sakic is going to try to stack a probable Colorado-Detroit alumni game during next season’s outdoor event with the Red Wings at Coors Field next February. Patty says he might buy new equipment for the game, if he participates:

Gameday: Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie spoke to the media during an off-ice workout Wednesday and looked fine. He scored the game-tying goal in Tuesday’s dramatic victory at Dallas and participated in the shootout. But he’s out with the hip injury Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings at the Pepsi Center. More on that story here.

I shot a lot of Tout video at the morning skate. Take a look (and yes, the picture on my cover page is Scott Parker ready to pummel me at a Denver Cutthroats charity game a couple years ago at the Denver Coliseum; thankfully we were just messin’ around):

Matt Duchene, a big Avalanche fan during the Colorado-Detroit rivalry of the 1990s and 2000s, talking about Red Wings:

The other day, the Avalanche was practicing at the same time the Broncos were introducing Gary Kubiak as their new head coach. I asked Roy about the similarities between the Avalanche and Broncos situations and his comments ran here.

My story on the Avalanche at the all-star break is in the Friday paper and online here, but here are extra comments from Sakic about the similarities between the Broncos (Elway/Kubiak) and Avalanche (Sakic/Roy). In both cases, it is former teammates and friends working together, with one in theory having the power to fire the other.

“You see the way John talks about Gary and the trust there,” Sakic said. “They’ve battled through it as teammates and I’m sure John made that decision based on trust and knowing what he’s going to get. Same as Patrick and I, our relationship. It’s based on trust and I know one thing: They’re expecting to win and we’re expecting to turn this around and win a championship. That’s why we’re here and we’re expecting to turn this around and win a championship. That’s why we’re here. We’re not here for anything else and for me, I know Patrick’s going to do a great job.”

Colorado Avalanche left wing Cody McLeod (55) and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman David Rundblad (5) battle for the puck behind the Blackhawks’ goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015, in Chicago. (Charles Rex Arbogast, The Associated Press)

CHICAGO — Greetings from the frigid cold. Minus fourth-line forward Cody McLeod, the Avalanche had a brief hop at the United Center, and the morning skate report is here. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews took the morning skate off but is expected to play against the Avs.

Avs coach Patrick Roy and GM Joe Sakic played shinny after the morning skates, along with assistant coaches Tim Army, Andre Tourigny and Mario Duhamel and goalie Reto Berra and defenseman Zach Redmond. Sakic was the last one off the ice.

That included one shining opportunity early in the game, just minutes after Iginla’s unassisted opener 30 seconds in. O’Reilly won the puck in the Blue Jackets’ zone, then back-handed a pass from the corner to Iginla, whose shot went just wide.

Calvin Pickard makes a save on a shot from the Arizona Coyotes during the third period. (Christian Petersen, Getty Images)

So, we have a genuine goalie controversy on our hands, except it’s for the backup job, not the starter. Coach Patrick Roy says he will sit down with Avs GM Joe Sakic (still weird for me to write both those titles for these guys) on Sunday and debate what for Avs fans is their version of The Choice: Calvin Pickard or Reto Berra.

Roy said the other day the Avs will not carry three goaltenders (I think they learned last year that was a bit awkward and counter-productive for everyone involved) when Semyon Varlamov comes back off the injured list -which should be Monday night against Les Canadiens De Montreal.Read more…

Colorado defenseman Ryan Wilson is pictured during Avalanche practiced at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. (Denver Post file)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Update on injured forward Alex Tanguay, Jarome Iginla skipping the first of many morning skates, line combinations and Reto Berra starting in net on Tuesday night against the renamed Arizona Coyotes at the renamed Gila River Arena is here.

As for a major future question with the Avalanche — which currently has just $891,145 of spending under the cap, second lowest in the 30-team NHL — defenseman Ryan Wilson (shoulder, out for season) has been placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and, given his $2.25 million cap hit, cap relief from his injury is possible. Coach Patrick Roy likes to carry eight D, and he has just six on the active roster right now, with Brad Stuart on IR with a troubling hamstring issue.

.@MikeChambers A note on that: Our $900K estimate already factors in the maximum amount the #Avs could get from Wilson being on LTIR.

Given the LTIR, Stuart’s nagging injury and Roy’s choice of carrying eight D, the Avs could reinforce their back end at some point this season by packaging a current player in a trade for a $3-$4 million defenseman — particularly after goalie Calvin Pickard and forwards Paul Carey, Tomas Vincour and Ben Street are sent back to the AHL, a string that will coincide with the returns of Jamie McGinn, John Mitchell, Jesse Winchester, Dennis Everberg and Patrick Bordeleau.

.@MikeChambers Obviously getting healthier and being able to send bodies back to the minors will increase that figure.

The LTIR and actual cap space with all these big-league injuries are extremely complicated, and assistant GM Greg Sherman is probably the only guy giving Roy and GM Joe Sakic the right information.

“For a trade, Joe will have to (talk) about that but on my side right now I’m comfortable with the six D,” Roy told me this morning. “Stuart is day-to-day — I thought he would be close to back right now but unfortunately his injury is taking a little more time than expected — but right now our D is playing well. We’re very happy. (Zach) Redmond scored two goals last game and (Nick) Holden is playing better and better. I don’t have to say much about (Erik) Johnson and (Tyson) Barrie, I mean, they’re outstanding. And (Nate) Guenin is a great partner with Tyson and Jan (Hejda) has really been clicking with EJ. So right now, unless something happens tonight, I’m not planning on calling (up) anyone as we speak. But down the road things could change.”

The top D for the Lake Erie Monsters are Stefan Elliott, Maxim Noreau and Karl Stollery, who have each played all 16 games. Bruno Gervais is pointless in 13 games and Duncan Siemens has just three assists in 14 games.

Meanwhile, the Avs return home after Tuesday’s game and hosts the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center. The Avs saw the Blackhawks plane coming into its gate at DIA as Colorado was boarding its flight to Phoenix. The Blackhawks will be fresh.

“We’re not going to think about Chicago. We’re going to focus on tonight’s game, and that’s what I told the players. We can’t think about what’s going to happen in two days, or one day, and focus on today,” Roy said. “We’ve won three of our last four games and now we have a chance to make it four in our last five. It has to be a day-to-day thing.”

Semyon Varlamov #1 of the Colorado Avalanche takes a break during the second period against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 11, 2014 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – That’s how Matt Duchene described tonight’s game at the Nassau Coliseum, where the hometown Islanders thoroughly dominated the Avs.

It was really pretty shocking watching this game. I mean, the Avs were completely outplayed. They simply couldn’t do anything offensively. Nothing. They got 20 shots on Jaroslav Halak, but I don’t recall one remotely dangerous scoring chance. Patrick Roy is trying to keep it positive in his postgame pressers, but in the room there wasn’t much positivity. Duchene went on a mini-rant about the state of things, and basically said it’s time to get “P’d O” about it all.

Things are clearly in “Danger Will Robinson” mode. You lose a game like that, and it can’t just be easily dismissed as one of those nights. I’m sure Roy is much more critical behind the scenes, so I wouldn’t get too miffed about him for seemingly not being more upset about tonight and things overall with the season. He’s a smart man when it comes to this game, and he knows the problems that exist.

I guess if you had to name one big thing wrong right now, it’s the fact that the top two lines aren’t doing much of anything. The top six forwards failed to get a point for the second straight game. The Avs’ leading scorer (a tie at the top) has 10 points. A team with great young talent like Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon not getting one real good scoring chance? It’s just hard to believe, but it has been the case too often this year.

Is a lot of the problem because the Avs let Paul Stastny go? I mean, I and many others were all on record saying it wasn’t a good thing he got away for nothing, but I thought MacKinnon and Duchene would use his absence to grab more of the spotlight for themselves and that things would be fine at center. Well, things haven’t been fine at all.

The biggest thought I remember having tonight while watching the Avs skate offensively was – especially the top two lines: “There’s no plan here. It’s all just freelance. It’s all just a guessing game where to go, what to do.”Read more…

Sean Bergenheim of the Florida Panthers controls the puck against Erik Johnson of the Colorado Avalanche as goalie Reto Berra defends the goal at Pepsi Center on Oct. 21, 2014 in Denver. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)”

Psst. Hey you, Avs Fan. You’re stressed right now. You want to lash out about it. You want to go on a righteous rant about it. You might want to mix in a bad word or two. Been there, done that, about a lot of silly things in my life.

But I want you to take a deep breath with me. Ready? Go … and, exhale. Ahhh. That felt good, right? Do a couple more. Good.

OK, so things haven’t started off too great. Everybody is clutching the pearls about it. Well, I’m hear to tell you that things will be OK. Let me play the “historical perspective” card with you here:

I remember being in Los Angeles in October 1998, for Game 5 of the regular season. The Avs came into that game 0-4 and people were freaking out about it. Bob Hartley was the team’s first-year coach, and already some fans wanted him fired. The Avs’ first three games were at home, and a team with Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Valeri Kamensky, Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Chris Drury and more was shut out in two of them, by Buffalo and Boston.

They went on the road for Game 4 in Phoenix and got smoked by the Coyotes at the old America West Arena. In that Game 5 in L.A., at the old Fabulous Forum, the game see-sawed back and forth into the third period, when the Kings took a 5-3 lead on goals by Glen Murray and Yanic Perreault. Perreault’s goal came with 1:40 left in regulation, making it 5-3. With a late West Coast deadline about to hit on my game story, I put my 100-word-a-minute typing skills into overdrive and wrote a lead paragraph of something like — and I’m paraphrasing a paragraph here — “OK Avalanche fans, now you can push the panic button.”

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.